Sunday, June 8, 2014

Book Review: The Loving Kitchen by LeAnn Rice

I've got another book review for you today and this time it is a cookbook titled "The Loving Kitchen" by food blogger LeAnn Rice. The subtitle of the book is "Downright Delicious Southern Recipes to Share with Family, Friends, and Neighbors," and so I'm sure you can see why I chose this book for review. I actually had never heard of LeAnn Rice prior to selecting this book for review; so, I checked out her blog and found lots of fantastic looking recipes and immediately knew I had made a good choice.

There are seven recipe sections in the book which include the following: Morning Fare, Bountiful Breads, Starters and Salads, Soups and Sandwiches, Entrees, Vegetables and Sides and Desserts. . Each section is filled with scrumptious recipes that seem fairly easy to make and would be a great addition to your dinner table, church potluck, or to cook up and take over to a friend. I, for one, am very excited to try out the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie. Some of the recipes are accompanied by photos of what the finished product looks like and if you are like me, then you are naturally drawn to these recipes more than the ones without a photo.

In addition to all the great recipes, Ms. Rice also provides a small blurb about each of the recipes, some indicating how she came by the recipe and others saying what makes the recipe great. Throughout the book, the author tries to emphasize how you can show love to others through food and cooking - a great and very true concept if you ask me.

At the end of the book, Ms. Rice has two sections (Reaching Out and Gathering In) that provide a list of ideas that you can use when you are trying to reach out to those in need or when you are having people into your home for a meal. Both sections are well worth the read and will perhaps encourage and motivate you to help someone by cooking a meal for them.

All in all, "The Loving Kitchen" is a really great cookbook and one that I'm sure I will pull out from time to time when looking for inspiration on something to cook. "The Loving Kitchen" is published by Thomas Nelson books and is available in paperback form or can be downloaded to an e-reader. The book can be purchased for around $20 at retailers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.